JU falls to Ohio St, Penn St Knocks Off Denver at Moe’s Classic

“Welcome to Moe’s!” The 2013 Moe’s Southwest Grill Classic that is.
This past Sunday, EverBank Field hosted the third annual lacrosse classic. Participating in this year’s event were Denver, Penn State, Ohio State, and host Jacksonville University.
The first game featured the No. 8/9 ranked Denver Pioneers (1-1) and the No. 15 ranked Nittany Lions of Penn St. (2-0). Denver came into the match up off of a 14-12 win over the No. 4 ranked Duke Blue Devils. Penn St. was coming off an 11-6 victory over the Michigan Wolverines.
The teams exchanged goals for most of the first quarter, with the exception of a late score by Penn St. giving them a 5-3 lead after the first quarter of play.
In the second quarter, the back and forth scoring continued. Penn St. got an early goal but Denver answered a few minutes later. Each team would score once more before half. The Nittany Lions went into the locker room with a 7-5 advantage at the half.
Following the intermission, Penn St. came out on fire. They scored early and often as they doubled their goal total, scoring seven in the third quarter of play. The Pioneers added three goals of their own but found themselves trailing 14-8 entering the final quarter.
It looked as if roles were reversing in the fourth quarter with Denver coming out hot on both ends. The Pioneer defense held Penn St. to one goal while shooting four of their own past the Nittany Lions goalie. Despite the late scare, Penn St. was able to hold on for the 15-12 victory.
Game two of the Moe’s Classis featured the No. 19/20 ranked Ohio St. Buckeyes and the host Jacksonville University Dolphins.
After the first game provided a bit of an offensive explosion, the JU, OSU game was much more of a defensive battle. The game started similarly with the Buckeyes (2-0) and the Dolphins (0-2) exchanging goals early on.
The Buckeyes struck first but the Dolphins came right back with a goal from Rob Wertz. The Dolphins jumped out to a 2-1 lead a minute later on an Ari Waffle goal on the man-up opportunity. The Buckeyes then found a way to the back of the net three straight times to close out the opening quarter of play with a 4-2 lead.
Following the short break, Cameron Mann and TJ Kenary got shots past the OSU goalie knotting the game back up at 4 goals apiece. Ohio State’s All-American Logan Schuss immediately turned the momentum back around in the Buckeyes favor giving them a 5-4 lead at the half.
Each team added a goal in the third quarter as the Dolphins found themselves trailing by just one, heading in to the fourth and final quarter of play down 6-5. JU’s urgency to tie the game opened up a few gaps on the back end allowing the Buckeyes to sneak three goals past Dolphin goalie Pete DeLuca. JU would add a goal with a few minutes left to play, but in the end it wasn’t enough as the Dolphins fell 9-6 to the Buckeyes.
“It’s a long season, last year when we played here and beat Navy it might have been our best game of the season,” said Head Coach Guy Van Arsdale. “I told our guys that we know this wasn’t our best game. It’s a long journey and we know that we can build on this in a different way and we can make this year much different than what we went through last year.”
Up next for the Dolphins will be a March 2nd showdown with High Point. You can catch the action at D.B. Milne field. The game is slated to face off at 2p.m.